ONE band keeping alive the golden age of the 60’s British popular music, has to be The Manfreds who brought their own unique sound to a full house at Loughborough Town Hall.

ONE band keeping alive the golden age of the 60s British popular music, has to be The Manfreds who brought their own unique sound to a full house at Loughborough Town Hall.

Their early roots were in Blues and Jazz and in 1971, Paul Jones formed the Manfred Mann Earth Band but it was the pop status that brought them 15 UK top singles including Pretty Flamingo, their first number one, making them household names in Britain continuing their success in America and Canada.

Their current two hour show is a quirky and interesting mixture of blues, jazz and pop, but I felt the packed Loughborough Town hall audience expected all the well known hits and were slightly disappointed as they waited patiently throughout the first half that featured the most recent songs they perform on their latest CD.

Closing the first set with Pretty Flamingo, the first of my personal favourites, set the scene for the second half and, at last the audience sprang to life as The Manfreds sang hit after hit including Do Wah Diddy, Mighty Quinn, my number two personal favourite, and 5 4 3 2 1.

The Manfreds with original front man Paul Jones, who is probably one of the best harmonica players I have ever heard, are all excellent musicians and the solo performances, especially by Mike Hugg on keyboard, were superb.

In the age of tribute bands, The Manfreds gave the audience what they wanted, a chance to see and hear the originals in action!